Camp NaNo April 2014: Crystal Compass Final Part

The hospital room was almost silent when she came around again. There was a radio playing in the corner. She did not recognise the station, but the weather report, mentioning the secession of the odd snow storm over the woods near Aldhaven, made her let out a heavy sigh. Taking in enough breath to do so caused pain to spike through her chest and caused her to let out a pained whimper.

A soft mumble from one of the other beds in the room made her turn to look, only to be surprised when she found that Miranda was heading her way with a rather large card and a bag of some kind. The moment she noticed Twilight was trying to sit up she alerted the nurse with a slightly wary look.

The nurse shot over to Twilight’s side, assisting her and helping her adjust the bed so she was comfortable, asking questions about how she was feeling turning up the drip when she mumbled something about being in pain. Once the nurse was happy that she was fit to see guests, Twilight watched the woman usher Miranda forward.

“Hi Boss.” The librarian smiled, feeling dizzy as the painkillers in the IV started working.

“H...hi Miss Rodgers.” The head librarian stammered offering the card and the bag, “Th...the Jacksons wanted me to give you this.” She shook the bag slightly, “And the kids all signed this.”

Twilight took the card, opening it to find that is was decorated with silver, purple and blue glitter, along with snowmen and snowflakes and a giant ‘Tank Yoo’ scrawled across the front. Seeing the names inside, including Hikaru’s made her smile, though it was a sad one as she remembered that Hikaru had been the only child she had managed to rescue.

“Snowmen?” She asked as she reached for the gift bag.

“Well considering...” Miranda trailed off and looked at the floor, “We found that creature you froze. And the cave...they’ve dna tested the bones...there’s a lot of people who got closure when they did that.”

Twilight stared at the floor, ashamed even as she realised that the appearance of the Wrath of Winter was being laid on her. “I’m sorry. I tried to find the kids...but only Hikaru was left when I found it.”

“No one blames you.” Miranda lied, her staff member could see it and hear it in her tone and body language, “The police took that thing away. Said they found your blood all over the snow...”

“It wanted Hikaru too.” Twilight mumbled, “I’d failed the other kids, I wasn’t going to fail her too.” When Miranda did not have anything else to say on the matter, she opened the gift from the Jacksons. Inside was a card, a store bought ‘thank you’ card with a message inside thanking her for outing her powers in order to save their daughter along with a new necklace and a pair of earrings.

All of them were silver snowflakes and they looked like they had diamonds and sapphires embedded in them. They were beautiful pieces of work and Twilight did not think that she had seen anything like them before.

“They’re gorgeous.” She told Miranda, “But they didn’t have to...”

“They felt they did, especially after... Aella...do you know how long it’s been?” Miranda asked softly.

Twilight blinked at her, shaking her head. “No, I don’t...” Then her eyes widened as she realised that she had no clue what the date was and she had only been a couple of days away from her final exams, “Miranda? What’s the date?”

“I’m sorry.” Miranda apologised, looking like she wished she was not the one to give her the news, “You went missing a week and a half ago.”

“No...no no no no!” Twilight tried scramble out of bed and find her phone or any phone in order to contact the university, only for the nearest nurse to hold her in place, the pain making her give in before too long, “But I’ve missed my exams!”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Miranda had backed off a couple of yards, wincing at the pain in the young woman’s voice, both emotional and physical. This news on top of everything else the final blow as the young woman started trembling, concerning the nurse watching them, “I really am. Once you get out of here, they might let you resit, right?”

“I...don’t know...” Twilight’s voice trembled as she tried to keep the tears she could feel building from tumbling down her face. It was stupid, to get so worked up over missing her exams when children had died. She knew it was, but she could not help it. She had worked so hard over the last three years to pass her course and unless the university would allow her to take the tests in the resits, it was all over.

All her work, all her effort and time and energy and even if she took the exam in the resits she would never have her honours degree. A degree maybe, but not the results she had worked so hard towards.

“I’m sorry.” Miranda sounded like she felt guilty as she watched the young woman break down. “But you saved Hikaru, that’s better than a degree, right?”

Twilight’s nod was slow and miserable and she put the jewellery on the bedside table before rolling onto her less injured side, “Th...thanks Miranda...d...do I still have a job?”

“Yes.” Miranda could reassure her of that, the tears in the young woman’s voice reminding her that for all of Twilight’s rumoured powers, she was still a human being was dreams and hopes and emotions, a young woman who had risked her life against some creature who had preyed on the children of the village. “The job will be waiting for you, no matter how long it takes you to recover.”

When Twilight did not respond the head librarian left, uncomfortable with being the one who had been there when her staff member had woken up. The student did not care. The moment she was sure her boss was no longer there, she burst into tears, her sobs slowly becoming less painful as the drugs in her system eased the tightness in her chest.

A gentle cold breeze and a icy cold hand on her shoulder made her curl into her thin blanket as her tears subsided, unsure if she could bring herself to talk to anyone else without sobbing at them. Luckily she did not have to as the medicine pumping around her system carried her off into an uneasy sleep and by the time she came around again, everyone was asleep.

She got up, her head spinning a little from the pain in her chest. The drip connected to her hand was empty, allowing her to pull free of it without feeling guilty. She headed for the open window and sat on the sill, watching the city below go by quickly. She had figured that she had no longer been in Aldhaven. There was no real hospital near the village, if anyone needed one they had to go an hour down the road to Plymouth. She was not surprised that for injuries like hers, they had had to rush her here, rather than leave her to the Doctor’s tender care.

“Jack?” She called quietly, kind of hoping that he was still around and that no one else was watching or listening, “Jack? You still out there?”

“I’m here, Twi.” Her friend floated  in the breeze, coming and sitting next to her, concern on his features, “I’m sorry about your course.”

Twilight did not know what to say to that, instead she asked, “Did you lead the police to the scene?”

“No.” Jack shook his head, “That was Clara and Nadia. I had to go south and let off the rest of the storm. If I’d dropped anymore on the forest, they would have had to dig out the cave entrance. Your friend, Ley was there apparently though.”

The librarian nodded her understanding, unsure what to say to that. “The villagers think I caused the snow storm.” She told him instead, “I don’t know what to do about that.”

“Focus on getting better, first.” Jack suggested, “And worry about that later. They’ve thought you’re a witch for years. This isn’t any different.”

Twilight disagreed. There was a difference from suspecting it and practically having proof. Not that they knew what really happened but it was probably for the best.

“What’re the Compass doing about Bones?” Twilight asked. “You froze him solid and the police took him. Are they going to settle for that?”

“I don’t know.” Jack admitted with a rueful smile, “I’ll get called up to give evidence at some point, they have to include me for that because I was the Wrath’s Avatar, but I’m not highly enough ranked to know what they’re planning after that.”

“So there will be a trial?” Being in pain was exhausting and Twilight’s hand clutched the edge of the windowsill as her world spun, “Because of the children?”

“Twilight...” Jack sighed, knowing that what he was about to say would not go down well. “He won’t face any repercussions for harming the kids...”

“But that’s not fair!” Twilight’s protest caused the sleepers in the bed nearest the window to stir and groan in their sleep, making her freeze up and watch them until she was sure that they had fallen back into their slumber. “That’s not fair.” Twilight grouched at her friend quietly once she was certain.

“What he did to the children was wrong.” Jack held his hands up, recognising that his friend was royally ticked off but having to make his point clear, “But it’s part of his legend. We cannot help but follow the paths that you mortals lay down for us. He was born of a myth that stated that he ate naughty children, we can’t punish him for that, any more than we could punish that Yuki Ona for freezing people or Nowell for breaking into people’s houses to leave gifts every Christmas.”

The librarian did not like it. Not one bit. She had known that would be what happened, Bones had been using his legend like a shield, allowing him to get away with things that in any normal society, he would have been dealt with harshly for.

“So they’ll only punish him for what he did to me?” She asked, staring at her wrists which were wrapped in bandages, “Nothing else?”

“I don’t think he’ll be getting away that lightly.” Jack reassured her, “He tried to overthrow Choronzon and take advantage of Handover, they won’t like that one bit.”

“But you don’t know what his punishment will be?”

“Don’t think about it.” Jack recommended, getting up and leaping down into the hospital room, offering his friend a hand down from the window sill. “There’s nothing you can do about it and you have something more important to worry about.”

“What’s that?” Twilight huffed, accepting his help and leaning on Jack as he helped her stumble back to her bed.

“Well, you have your university to fight with.” Jack pointed out as she laid down on the uncomfortable mattress, “And Handover’s over. Your house will be flooded with immortals who will want to hear what happened.”

“I’m not sure I can deal with them...” The librarian mumbled as she felt herself drifting off again.

“Get better first.” Jack offered as he tucked her in and took a perch on her bedside table, watching over his mortal friend, “Everything else can come later.”